- WASHINGTON - Imagine someone being able to diagnose that you will get cancer 20 years before it happens.
Then,
imagine a designer drug able to prevent the
disease.
That could be possible because of a genetic breakthrough of the Human Genome
Project.
National Institutes of Health geneticist Dr. Francis Collins is the American scientist in charge of the project, which is unlocking the secrets of human DNA.
It is called the code of life. The human genome -- the double helix found in every human cell -- contains a complete set of your DNA. It''s an instruction manual for the human body.
Collins said, "Within that instruction book are all of the instructions it takes to go from a single cell to being a very complicated organism, which we all are."
A major scientific achievement that unraveled the genome''s mysteries is transforming medical science. A detailed map of the genome is helping doctors diagnose, treat, and someday prevent hereditary disease.
Already, genetic tests can detect a DNA glitch before a disease develops.
"They can take advantage of a very intense screening," said Collins, "detect the disease when it''s very easy to cure, and save their lives from something really awful, downstream."
DNA screening could soon predict which disease you''re likely to get.
Collins said, "I think in the next five or six years, the possibility of finding out one''s individual risks of future illness will become quite real for a list of maybe a half-dozen, maybe a dozen diseases."
Breakthrough drugs are now available that target genes to treat disorders like leukemia. In the future, expect even more.
"Don''t be surprised if sometime in that period you go see a doctor and they say, ''Well, you know, you''re sick, you really need this drug, but first let''s check your DNA and see if it''s right for you.'' That''s coming," said Collins.
As director of the decade-long human genome project, Collins led thousands of scientists to identify every human gene from those that determine eye color to those that cause hereditary disease.
The breakthrough was a genetic three-billion letter code so complex, it would take three decades to read it aloud.
When Collins first announced the early results of the human genome project at the White House in June 2000, President Clinton referred to it as "the language of God." It was a phrase Collins would later adopt as the title of his book on the compatibility of science and faith.
Collins said, "When I have a chance once in awhile to discover something no human being knew before -- but God knew it -- that is such a sense of having glimpsed a little of His magnificence."
The world-renowned scientist is also a man of faith, an enigma to his colleagues.
We spoke with Collins at Washington''s National Cathedral because the National Institutes of Health would not allow an interview that mentioned Collins'' faith on government premises.
"There is a bit of an unwritten taboo in scientific circles that you don''t talk about faith in the seminar room," Collins explained. "It''s not that scientists are all a bunch of godless atheists. I''m happy to say that''s not true. Forty percent of scientists believe in a God to whom they may pray in expectation of an answer. That''s pretty well documented. But they''re pretty quiet about it when they''re at work."
At this year''s National Prayer Breakfast, Collins publicly challenged the notion that a rigorous scientist cannot believe in God.
He said, "There seems to be in our culture, particularly in the United States, a war going on. People are being asked to choose to either sign onto the scientific world view or the spiritual world view."
But Collins says that scientists throughout history have been devoutly religious.
In his book The Language of God, Collins describes his own conversion to Christianity.
A young doctor in his 20s and an atheist at the time, Collins applied the I was astounded," he said. "There were good reasons, from an investigation of the human heart and the universe -- that God''s existence was a lot more plausible than denying it."
Collins says that the complexities of the universe, like the forces that hold atoms together, helped convince him that God exists.
"If you tinker with those even the tiniest bit, there is no way you can end up with a stable universe that can support any kind of life," Collins said.
For Collins, faith is personal, and science a form of worship.
He said, "Would not God who gave us this glorious creation of His, and Who gave us the intelligence to be able to try and understand it, would He not be worshipped by our applying those tools to appreciate what He has done for us? And that draws me closer to Him in a way I really can''t quite put into words. But it gives me a sense of just how grand and awesome His mind must be."
Today, the man who decoded the blueprint of life says genomics is the future of medicine.
But he warns that the potential for cures comes with the price of ethical and legal concerns.
From designer babies, to stem cell research, to who can access your DNA, the decoding of the human genome may raise more questions than it answers.
"Science is a wonderful, exciting opportunity to investigate how the world works and develop new and exciting ways to make our lives safer and healthier," said Collins.
Yet at the same time, it fails to answer the fundamental questions about human existence that really can only be answered through faith.